“So how are you not dead?” Koali was snapped out of his reverie by a voice nearby. “Say again?” Koali uttered, his voice was mechanical and deep, it echoed in the hollow chamber where he was resting. “How is it that you are not dead? Due to the amount of injuries you’ve had…” The voice belonged to one of the imperial guardsmen that had come aboard the Cruiser ‘Intolerance’ when their attack had failed. “Quite the insolent one aren’t you?” Koali paused just long enough for the soldier to shift awkwardly “Is that any way to address a Techmarine of our most honorable Emperor?” The soldier looked up at the towering form of Koali and sneered “Oh wise and most venerable Techmarine of the honorable emperor, how is it you’re not dead?” Koali reach forward to grab the wretch and teach him some manners however the soldier ducked back quickly and moved behind one of the chambers support pillars.

“Look here you insignificant bag of flesh, I’ve lived for over three centuries, fought in hundreds of wars and have sustained countless injuries to protect the empire you so carelessly insult!” Koali’s metallic voice now was loud enough to attract the attention of others in the chamber, they came over to investigate the commotion. Noticing the small gathering the soldier quickly changed his tune “Look, I was only interested because with so much bionics you surely should have died long ago, yet here you are in front of us! And I want to know what happened”

Realizing that he would not catch the soldier with doing some serious damage to the surrounding area; Koali sighed, the sound came echoed out of his vox box sounding like an angry growl as he strode back to the alcove he was previously in, he then turned to face the small crowd who were waiting. “So, you want to know how I got to where I am, closer to the Omnissiah? Well stay a while and listen and you will know what I know”

Koali cleared his throat, “As you may know the Grey Knight; Brother Captain Stern, had combined the remnants of all loyal forces into a single army and ordered that all armor be painted grey to differentiate us from the chaos supporters who had turned during the beginning of our war.” What you may not know is that our early battles were small scale, a hit and run here, a surprise attack there, only a few units were ever engaged and it was just using bolters and other small caliber weapons. However it was noticeably escalating, I was moving more into a direct support role on the battlefield rather than an after battle support fixing broken armor and weapons. It was when we started to use the larger weapons and tanks that Stern knew something had been testing us, learning our tactics, finding our weaknesses.

I’ve survived due to my bionics, the first; my arm was grafted to me after an ambush while we were moving towards the capital palace. The attack was all a blur but I do remember this, the cultists moved quickly. They came at us from the sides with chainswords and laspistols, our amour withstood the low powered laspistols, but when they got in close the chainswords were just getting through, they kept on coming. I was pulled to the ground by four of them and while I was strangling the life out of one of them the other three leapt on my arm and started to saw, by the time we had cleared the ambush five of our marines were dead and over half of us were greatly wounded. I created my own arm and it’s served me well.

I received my next bionic, my legs, after the tank I was repairing was destroyed, I was repairing the main turret on one of the force’s razorbacks when our position was shelled by chaos marines. I was thrown from the top by a blast that wrecked the Razorback, fortunate as I was not to be killed, the turret followed me off of the tank, I ended pinned by my legs and it took four marines to move it off of me. By that time the damage had been done, Senior Techmarine Onox constructed my leg and I could not have asked for better.

I got my cranium bionics next, this one I do remember vividly however I understand this makes no sense having suffered a head wound. We were attacking a bastion held by approximately four score of chaos supporters, the environment had just turned and there was rain, lots of rain. I was tasked with close support of the Predator tank ‘Sularo’ it had taken a Krak missile from the battlements and one of its side sponsons was heavily damaged, I was working to fix the energy coils so it could rejoin the battle when the vehicle was rocked by another small explosion and I was thrown aside; my helmet ripped from my armor. As I was getting to my feet up a second larger explosion came from inside the tank, I was told later that a lucky round had penetrated the frontal armor and had detonated the tanks internal ammunition stores. The side sponson was ejected directly into my stomach and came to rest on my legs, Omnissiah be praised that due to my legs already having been made of metal I felt nothing however the sponson had pinned me down. Shrapnel from the ammunition inside imbedded into my head and I was knocked unconscious. The next thing I remember is being woken up aboard the Strike Cruiser by the Grey Knight apothecary ‘Vertz’ and being asked to complete the first four rites of remembrance. Onox and Vertz had both done their very best work and I have not noticed any decrease in my mental faculties.

Koali’s giant frame shifted and he looked at his mechanical fingers as he flexed them; attempting to recall how had had gotten his last gift from the Omnissiah. “Giving your life in the service of the Emperor is something we are all prepared to do, you and I know this to be true” Koali addressed the crowd with a fire in his one good eye “I was certain death had come for me when we were set upon by red skin demons. Our strike on the summoning ritual had started off well, we had advanced to the perimeter of the site; our suppressing fire blasting apart their defenders. There was however a static in the air which made the most of our electronics start to function at elevated levels; it made me feel very uneasy. Koali paused, formulating the next words and weighing them before speaking. “We were given the order to advance on the inner circle, as soon as we had stepped over the perimeter line we must have triggered their trap. Flames leapt up around us, the ground rent open and unspeakable horrors burst forth. I admit I was fearful of what was coming, however the rest of the Grey Knights showed no fear and charged the incoming masses; the fire only felled a few. I instructed the gun servitor with me to open fire into their ranks and the loading servitor to wait for them to reach us.

I remember emptying my bolter into one large red skinned demon as it bore down on me; my rounds did nothing but aid in making it angrier. When it tackled me it was like being hit by a Squiggoth, we wrestled but it ended up on pinning me to the ground its mass defied its lithe frame, it started to hit me with its large fists and with the sharp spikes it dented and cracked my armor with each hit. I looked into its black eyes and saw only a blackness and with its snarl I was under no mistake that it had an intense burning hatred for us mortals. Suddenly the loading arm from one of my servitors gripped the demons neck and pulled it backwards off of me. With this respite it gave me enough time to get my servo arm and grip the demons head in its clamps. I rerouted the power from my pack packs energy cortex to the servo arm in an attempt to crush the demons head, it popped like a balloon, horns and gore went everywhere.

Sadly the servitor didn’t last much longer and I watched its body getting pulled into quarters by a large pack of smaller red skinned demons these ones were much more squat and muscular than my previous kill. As they finished with my servitors and turned their gaze on to me, I quickly reloaded and rapid fired into the pack. I managed to take down three of them however they were almost without number and I was set upon and dragged to my knees. The smaller demons were strong, their arms rippled with muscle and sinew, they started to pull apart my broken armor and started to destroy what lay beneath, they ripped my helmet off I was struck down and everything went black. Koali stopped talking, the chamber was silent, and all eyes were on his red segmented armor then to his scarred face.
Koali continued “I was technically dead. I have no idea how they got my body away from the little demons or even what convinced the Emperor I was worth saving… All I know is that I am still here, still fighting for the sector and that I’m being looked out by something higher” Koali picked up the Thermoplas cover for his sarcophagus he was working on with his massive power fist and he pressed the cover to the front of his life support frame, the gaskets hissed and expelled gases as it formed a tight seal. “I also know that with this dreadnaught body, those little demons won’t stand a chance now!”

Part 1

Koali was in the ships Mechanicus Forge; he had been repairing damages all afternoon and had made quite a lot of headway with the repairs. The rooms return cart was half full now and he looked over to the fresh batch of new arrivals, mainly small arms and a couple of heavy weapons. His work bench was currently clear so he moved the damages cart over to his bench and moved the top portion on to his desk and laid them out, He took his helmet off and placed it on the bench and started to sort through the damage tags. One of the ships scribes came to the door of the forge and addressed Koali.

“Sir, orders are in five minutes located in the war room, Brother Captain Stern has requested your presence”

“Very well, I’ll be heading over now” Koali responded, he wondered why he was being summoned to orders, this was not normal, only the most senior Techmarine on the ship were typically required. The Scribe gave the sign of the Aquila and disappeared down the hall. Koali finished reading the damage notes on the weapons and headed to the war room.

Koali was the second to last to enter, Stern followed behind him. The war room was half full, the officers and sergeants currently not on missions were gathered to receive their orders from Brother Captain Stern. The walls were a soft cream which looked out of place compared to the bland metallic table in the center of the room. Stern moved to the head of the table, he leaned on the table edge and started to read a data slate full of information. To his right sat the Senior Techmarine Onox who nodded at Koali when he entered. On Stern’s left was the command squads veteran sergeant Lokni, after him were the sergeant’s from the tactical squad one, two and four. Squad three was currently on deployment. The assault squad sergeant and Captain Lirael were on the opposite side of the table, with a spare seat between Lirael and Onox.

Not everyone was seated however, the forces Chaplain was standing under one of the eaves behind Stern, his eyes studying every marine in the room. It was customary that for these briefings the combat armor and weapons were not worn and every one bar Koali was attired in simple robes. Feeling out of place at the briefing Koali moved over to the spare chair near Onox and took the seat.

“Welcome brothers, I’ll try to be brief so we can get back into it, the first mission is to pick up the Governor from his palace planet side” Sterns voice had a twinge of disgust at having to issue this mission.

“Why in Terra has the governor gone planet side?” The words slipped out of Onox’s mouth as he shook his head. ”Doesn’t he realize that the entire planet is wracked in war!”

Brother Captain Stern looked at Onox silently regarding his outburst “it would seem..” he paused as he weighed his words carefully “That our esteemed guest, the Governor, is under the impression he is safe no matter where he is”

Onox shook his head yet again “well if he feels so safe why are we going to get him?”

“Because…” a deep voice interrupted

“… without the Governor, there will be no one to command this system when we rescue it” The voice came from the forces Chaplain.

“Then why is it our job to save him from himself?” Sgt Emorej of the Squad one interjected.

“I agree with you all, but as Sylekta has advised, without the governor, all the saving we do here will mean nothing without structure afterwards” Stern’s words were quiet and controlled.

Everyone in the war room went silent. Ever since the command was given to have all forces unit under a singular leader, there had been more than a few unhappy marines and they were more than happy to voice their concerns. It look like the only thing holding everything together was Stern’s leadership, of course is reputation surely didn’t hurt either. Stern moved back from the table and walked towards the Hologlobe, he stepped down into the semicircular pit and keyed on the globe. A map of the sector sprung into life on the wall and Stern zoomed in on the part of the sector where Couture was, after a few more key presses, blue travel lines intersected the planet and continued out of view.

“As you can see, this sector feeds both hardware and troops to the Sabbat worlds, without this planet those forces will be cut off completely”

Stern now turned to face the briefing table, his old face a stark contrast to the light grey of his robe.

“We will go and get the Governor, we will save him from himself. Once we have rescued this sector I feel a quick chat to the local inquisitor may be in order”

The majority of the room had a small laugh, the thought of the Governor being interrogated by an Inquisitor seemed fitting for what they were going to go through to get him.

“So how do we ‘convince’ the governor to come with us?” asked Vet. Sgt Lokni

Stern turned back to the hologlobe, he zoomed into the main city and highlighted two areas

“A night drop, three Rhino’s away from the city here” Stern pointed to a plain just north of the city “This will be followed up with an approach and ‘extraction’ on dusk, there is no convincing needed here brothers, just a simple snatch, grab then get out”

“Deployed forces Captain?” Sgt Cromat of Tac Squad two asked.

“This one should be relatively easy but I’m not about to go in under manned, two squads should do it” Stern looked around the room, extraction missions were quite boring and his Sergeants were all looking for more action.

“Are there any volunteers?” Stern asked

Sylekta deep voice spoke out “I’ll go. I need to get off of this cruiser at least once during this campaign, and who knows, perhaps my presence will cow the Governor into coming along quietly” he chuckled quietly at the thought.

“Great, your leadership may be needed if any of the brothers are looking disturbed” Stern thought back to the fact that many marines had lost their minds when planet side and started to fire on their own battle brothers, the presence of the chaplain should greatly help.

“In case the transports need repairs, I should go” Senior Techmarine Onox stated

Stern looked at Onox “Sadly brother I am in need of your services up here, I need you to work on fortifying one of our Nemisis Dreadknights, Elvale feels a little…. out in the open. Why not send Koali?”

“That is acceptable, Koali is more than capable enough for this. I look forward to seeing what I can do with the Dreadknight” There was a gleam in Onox’s eye that that having Koali summoned here was no mistake.

Great thought Koali, just when I was looking forward to getting some repair time on the damaged tanks I get sent on a fetch mission

No one else spoke, the sergeants were not keen to commit to the mission when they felt their squads were more valuable committing to a raid or to a destroy mission, not going to get the male.

Stern looked around the room “Well, I guess I will have to choose now”

Stern pointed at two Sergeants “ Sgt Jutan and Sgt Emorej both of your squads will accompany Sylekta and Koali on this one”

Both of the Sergeants were about to object however Stern’s gaze gave them second thoughts.

“Enemy forces?” Captain Lirael asked

Stern looked back at the hologlobe, he depressed three buttons and the image on the wall changed “At this point there is a high chance of local militia made up of traitor guardsmen and civilians. There have been reports of Chaos Space Marines as you get closer to the palace however as you are approaching at night this should be of no concern” as Stern mentioned the enemy forces an outline appeared on the wall of each one with a small layout of potential weapons and armor.

“Will we have Grey Knight support?” Sgt Jutan from Tac Squad four asked

Stern paused “…Currently the remaining Grey Knight forces are either deployed or are undergoing repairs, this one is without support”

“What if we encounter demons sir?” Jutan responded

“Then we kill them!” Emorej bellowed smashing his fist into the table. The others cheered their support, all except Jutan whose stare never left Stern.

“The mission details will be sent to squad sergeants for review. Prepare your squads, I want standard weapon load outs, be ready to deploy in one hour” Stern touched another button on the hologlobe and entered details into the machine.

Stern brought up another map, this one was of a weapons factory highlighted with at least twenty red triangles throughout the structure.

Koali could see that Emorej and Jutan were both unhappy they weren’t going to be able to fight in that battle.

“You four are dismissed now” Stern turned back to face them.

Koali, Sylekta, Emorej and Jutan all stood up. They gave the sign of the Aquila to Stern then left the room.